3 Players the Red Wings Should Target in the First-Round

Brad Lambert, C, Pelicans(Finland)

The Detroit Red Wings are a terrific team in the big picture. I mean, they have one of the best prospect pool’s in all of hockey, but what they do lack is the talent over the middle part of the ice.

Between Dylan Larkin and Joe Veleno, there is definetly talent there. However, if you look at the other lines, Pius Suter and Mitchell Stephens are the ones manning the middle and you question their talent. That’s where Brad Lambert comes into play.

Age: 18

Height: 6’0″

Weight: 179 lbs.

Shot: Right

Brad Lambert Breakdown

Brad Lambert is by far and away one of the best skaters in this draft. Now, to be realisitic with this, It should be noted that he is not thee best skater in this draft, but he is undoubtedly a top five skater.

Lambert has great high-end speed and great edgework that allows him to manuver in between defenseman at the blue line and move to the insider in order to get a cleaner look. Additionally, he has also shown the ability to use his speed along the boards to draw defenseman away from the net in order to possibly find a back-door pass.

He is a great skater, and that alone makes him such a dangerous player in this draft. However, there is still more than needs to be talked about.

Yes, he is a very good skater, but that doesn’t mean as much if you can’t do other things as well. By that I’m referring to passing the puck and having a good shot. Potentially lucky for us, he has a terrific shot from the wing and has a very crisp pass- although that part of his game needs work. But, before we talk about his passing, let’s talk about his shot.

Brad Lambert has a very good wrist shot, but I was unable to find a clip of a one-timer which leads me to believe that’s probably a weak point in his game. Nonetheless, as you can see from the video I have posted below, he has quite the wrist shot.

Lambert really put everything he had into that shot which makes it a little bit less crazy how much power he had on the shot, but nonetheless, he still really showed a lot of power on the shot. If he finds a way to get the shot off a little quicker, he could truly become a terrific scorer at the next level. But they will have to work with him on developing a quicker release because he will not have time to get a shot like that off in the NHL.

In the NHL a defenseman is going to close that gap immediatley and there won’t be a shot to get off. It’ll also do him some good to work on his one-timer and grow more confident in that.

Now, let’s talk about his passing ability.

During the film I was able to watch on him, he didn’t really seem to have the whole ‘playmaking’ thing down. Which, to be quite honest, is a little discouraging. As a center, your job is primarily be able to pass the puck off to the wings for good looks. Now, that’s not as much the case anymore, but if you look at most of the centers in the league- a majority of them are elite passers. Lambert is not.

On the other hand though, the fact that his passing is the one thing making me think he won’t be a star in this league is pretty impressive. There are a lot of things people look for and lucky for us, the passing thing can be taught and practiced as long as he’s willing to put the time in on it.